Any day is a good day to smoke meat (ok most of the time, depending on where you live). The bbq smell is engulfing your backyard. It just screams summer all the time.
We wil go through a basic method of smoking meat using a Weber Bullet Smoker.
- Weber Smoker
- Lump or regular charcoal
- Chimney Starter
- Flavoring wood chunks
- Matches
- Fire starter
- Seasoning
- Meat of your choice: we used chicken drumsticks, thighs and precooked sausage
Soak your flavoring wood chunks overnight to absorb moisture. Soaking the wood overnight keeps it from burning.
Pro tip: Wood chunks vs chips. Chunks are thicker than wood chips and offer a longer burn time. You won’t have to continuously add new wood to your smoker.
A water smoker has vents on both the bottom and top sections. Generally, it’s a good idea to leave the top vent wide open so that smoke can escape. Use the bottom vents as your primary way of regulating the temperature. The less air you allow into the smoker, the lower the temperature will go.
Place used newspaper or fire starter cubes on the bottom of the chimney starter.
Fill the chimney with your choice of Lump charcoals or briquettes. Light the bottom of the chimney to start burning.
(Pro tip: Lumb charcoal is more natural. It lights faster, burns hotter and leaves very little ash compared to briquettes, but it is a little more expensive.)
Line the water bowl with foil for easy clean up. The water sits in a pan in the middle section, preventing any fat from dripping onto the coals and, more importantly, keeping the temperature nice and low.
Place the grate and the charcoal chamber on the bottom. Fill the chamber with fresh and hot coals. Drain water from wood soaking the night before and add to hot coals.
While you wait for the desired temperature (200-250 degree), start preparing your meat. We drench the chicken in oil and sprinkle Sutherlands poultry seasoning.
The meat sits on one or two racks in the top section. We fill both grate level with chicken and sausage. This will be very smoky and that is what you want, for all the flavor to absorb into your delicious meat.
On average, this will take about 3hours or less. The meat will be very juicy. The chicken skin may not be as crispy as you like. We recommend you place them in the oven broiler for 3-4 minutes.
Pro tip: Generally speaking, if you are smoking for two or three hours, the meat should be thoroughly cooked. We recommend consulting with Weber meat guide.
Happy Smok'n!
